browse cultural medallions

Edward Hopper

July 22, 1882 - May 15, 1967

A printmaker, illustrator, and prominent watercolorist, Hopper is renowed for his oil paintings, whose focus on everyday life explores the visualization of human isolation, regret and boredom. His most famous painting, Nighthawks (1942), shows customers at a brightly lit all-night diner, inspired by a local Village restaurant. Many of Hopper's canvases focus on solitary figures or couples in their everyday environments; his rural landscapes and marine paintings were inspired by the area around Truro, Massachusetts, where he summered for nearly 40 years. Hopper developed a consistent style of modern painting that remained realist, despite the dominance of abstraction in art during much of his life. Though he had no formal students, many artists, including de Kooning and Rothko, have cited him as an influence. From 1913 until his death, Edward Hopper shared his studio with his wife, Jo, who was also a painter, his only model, and his muse.